Here’s a clip of Norwegian dance outfit Royksopp with my favourite track off of their 2001 Melody A.M.
As mentioned previously, dance music and electronica has been unfairly burdened with the tag of disposable music. It’s music designed for a specific purpose, with no real depth. At least, this is the case in the minds of some. But, like any genre, dance music is diverse, just as rock music is. Some of it certainly is disposable. But, not this track.
There’s something of the epic in this song. It’s definitely widescreen. Yet, it’s fun too, not imposing despite its size. It has personality – kind of cheeky, a bit sexy too, but mostly it’s just celebratory. This is true of the whole album, which has a solid melodic element to it, as well as being highly danceable.
This tune reminds me of a certain group of friends I have in London, bopping their heads back and forth and giggling to this song as they were wont to do. As much as I love this piece, it makes me miss them.
For more about Royksopp, check out the Royksopp official website.
Enjoy!
The Delete Bin 
“It’s music designed for a specific purpose, with no real depth. At least, this is the case in the minds of some.”
I shook my head when I read that, not in disagreement, but because it’s painfully true. People are apathetic towards it, but as a growing producer, there’s a lot of pain that goes into a track, no matter what it sounds like. What’s worse is that there is a lot of cookie-cutter music out there in most popular genres (not just EDM). But I digress.
Royksopp is fantastic. Though I haven’t had much luck with ‘Melody AM’ (yet), I did love their following album, ‘The Understanding’. A lot. So much I bought the vinyl of the album and one of the singles off the album, and I don’t have any means of playing it.
There’s this one particular track, ‘Only This Moment’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2BGQWeOgY), that stood out to me like a sore thumb. Airy and almost whimsicle at first, but when the lyrics hit, my gosh, it almost instantly joined my ranks of favourite songs.
I think a lot of the issues with electronica is that it is usually associated, quite rightly I guess, with clubbing. And in that setting, it’s hard to appreciate the subtleties. But, you and I both know that the best kind of music in any genre lives and dies on how it balances the groove, or the themes, against the little flourishes. In this, dance music has its work cut out for it.
I’ve not heard the follow-up – thanks for the recommendation, Jeremy. What was interesting to me about this band is the contribution that fellow Norwegians Kings of Convenience made to some of the tracks. I love when musical worlds collide like that.
I’d argue that a song can be simple and still be haunting; mind you, that’s probably me defending my own compositions.
For me, trance has always held the crown. Listening is like watching the waves, up .. down .. build … up .. up .. crash … and start over again. Lots of flourish and as a genre where long tracks are the norm, a lot of storytelling can be done through it:
I’m not familiar with the Norwegians Kings of Convenience. Can you recommend any of your favourite works?
@Jeremy – Warning: rockist content to follow. 🙂
I could never enjoy trance music, perhaps because there is that single moment of release, rather than a series of events to enjoy along the way. I prefer these guys (Royksopp, that is) and Orbital, that kind of stuff, just because it’s a bit less goal-oriented and single minded than trance strikes me as being.
Kings of Convenience are a singer-songwriter duo who pen songs in the spirit of Nick Drake and Vashti Bunyan. Check this out – which is Royksopp returning the favour. Miles away from dance music, yet the work they do with Royksopp on Melody AM does the trick with no seams showing at all.
Cheers!